This project is funded by NOAA Western Water Assessment

Objective

To study radiative effects of desert dust deposits in alpine snow

Collaborators

Thomas H. Painter is PI and Andrew P. Barrett is Co-Investigator.

Project Summary

The reduced snow albedo associated with dust deposition will increase snowmelt rates at the snow surface and in turn modifies the basin distribution of snowmelt. We hypothesize that this enhanced surface snowmelt modifies the runoff hydrograph of the Senator Beck Basin to an earlier rising limb and a greater peak discharge. During April through June, we conduct field campaigns in the Senator Beck Basin to measure the spatial distribution of snow water equivalence (SWE) on a 100-meter grid and work with scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara on snow cover remote sensing products for this region. The above data drive a spatially distributed snowmelt model that allows us to modify the radiative and snowmelt forcings of dust in snow and assess the impact of dust on the timing and magnitude of snowmelt runoff.

Related Resources

None

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